This is the statement of Secretary General of the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Mr Taleb Rifai on the country’s potential developing homestay tourism. According to him, this type of tourism has become popular in many nations around the world and has received lots of attention in Vietnam during recent years, since it brings real benefits, helps improve the economy, eradicate hunger and eliminate poverty, as well as preserve cultural heritage and protect the environment. The Vietnam Business Forum interviewed Mr Taleb Rifai on this topic. Thu Huyen and Thu Ha report.
How do you assess the importance of homestay tourism development in Vietnam?
Vietnam is a nation with huge tourism development potential. In the first quarter of 2012, the total number of international arrivals in Vietnam reached nearly 1.9 million (up by 24.5 percent) and domestic arrivals, 9.6 million (up by 6.67 percent against the same period in 2011). The growth rate of Vietnam’s tourism has been twice that of Asia overall, which is the region with the highest tourism development rate in the world. The good news is that the homestay tourism model has developed in many forms. Tourists can stay at local people’s homes for one or two weeks’ time, enjoy local food, exchange cultural features and get to know more about their life. We have been to a number of villages and worked with agencies responsible for tourism administration at the local level to develop residential areas into tourist accommodation establishments to attract tourists.
What benefits will this type of tourism bring?
Tourism is now one of the sectors having the strongest development and ranks the third, contributing 9 percent of global GDP. This sector has generated millions of jobs and motivated economic growth. Out of every 12 labourers, one is involved in the tourism sector and of every seven citizens, one is travelling overseas. The number of international tourists all over the world is estimated to exceed one billion and domestic tourists, four times greater than that.
Homestay tourism will create a large number of jobs for the youth and women living in rural areas. They will no longer have to travel away from their homeland to seek jobs, which brings a large income source for each locality and residential area. This is also the wish of lots of people and countries all over the world.
In fact, Vietnam has many localities suitable for homestay tourism development. UNWTO has made specific plans to promote and advertise Vietnam’s tourism and to assist Vietnam to develop homestay tourism in order to utilize and maximize tourism benefits from natural conditions.
Does this cooperation include plan development, provision of experts or financial support?
UNWTO has studied all these options. UNWTO will send experts to Vietnam to work with local experts to prepare plans and specific programmes for implementation. We will also provide Vietnam with documents and tool kits which will serve as the basis for implementation.
UNWTO will also provide financial support to Vietnam. Although not a direct donor, we can connect Vietnam with a lot of donors who can extend support to Vietnam in deploying projects. The important point that UNWTO emphasizes in this programme is providing direct training to management team and key personnel for activities related to project implementation.
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